The Gospel of Luke 12:49-59 Division!
Luke 12:49-59 · Vern Peterman · Dec 27, 2015
Gospel of Luke, No. 53
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492652513338

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning We have this passage to work our way through here this morning first want to give a last call for sign up for the electives Those begin these new electives begin this next Sunday and so we have first Corinthians and the principles of position and how to study the Bible and And so those will be available in the lobby for you to sign up and so I ask you to Make a choice there.

It really helps in our planning for materials and locations and things of that sort so into Luke chapter 12 verses 49 through 59 as Brad read for us here we have in this passage three topics and And these are all quotes of Jesus' words with one brief narrative statement, but no other people are referred to or quoted. In this passage, Jesus addresses these three primary topics, and those are, one, the nature of Jesus' first and second comings, and actually Jesus' own sentiment about those things.

Secondly, understanding the times. And we'll go into that some more. There's this third point, prefer settling out of court. And I think there's kind of a secondary message that we'll talk about when we get there, aside from that. These topics are presented in a manner similar to Proverbs and the Sermon on the Mount, where there's a point made and then moving on to the next one. First of all, it'll be important for us to keep this diagram and the things in it in perspective.

Christ's first coming is when he was born of Mary, as we've been celebrating this last week, and came to carry on his earthly ministry and to be crucified, buried, and resurrected and ascended. Since that time we have the church age, which so far has been somewhere around 20 centuries long. That will be ended with the rapture, the taking up of the church from the earth. All those who have believed since the day of Pentecost, Acts chapter 2, up until that time will be taken up and followed by the seven-year tribulation period. And then that will be ended with Christ's second coming and then a reign on the earth for a thousand years. And followed by that, the eternal state, new heavens, new earth.

And so using that as the outline, we're going to be looking back at that. And so Jesus says in Luke 12, 49, I've come to cast fire on the earth and how I wish you were already kindled. So that gives you his perspective. You think about that. Here's Isaiah 9, 6, and 7.

For a child will be born to us. We've, of course, been celebrating the fulfillment of that prophecy. A son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God. It says Eternal Father. I think probably a better way to carry that across is the Father or Source of the Ages.

Prince of Peace, there will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom. To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this. So, he's the Prince of Peace, why is it that he's talking about casting fire?

Why is that? Oh, I'm sorry, you expect me to answer that. Okay, here we go. In verse 4, you see right before this prophecy, There's the casting of fire for you shall break the yoke of their burden as the staff on their shoulders and the rod of their oppressor as at the battle of Midian that's In the Old Testament for every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult and the cloak rolled in blood will be for burning fuel for the fire Okay, this is the prophecy prior, and this is the end of the tribulation period. And then verses 6 and 7, that's the Millennial Kingdom. And we'll find those kinds of mixed references like that basically throughout the Old Testament and into the New, as we'll see. We have a supplement here, it's available in the cabinet to the right as you exit this room, that shows people will talk about the Battle of Armageddon.

Ultimately, probably the best way to call it is the Campaign of Armageddon. It will have eight stages that begin in the Valley of Megiddo. That's where the term Armageddon comes from, okay? The Har-Megiddo. It'll begin there and it will end in Jerusalem. So let me switch. Here's the Valley of Megiddo. I think Nancy took this shot, right? So here's the Valley of Megiddo.

It is one of the few wide valleys in Israel. One of the things we noticed is that most of the valleys are small, short, little valleys, deep, narrow. This one is broad and wide and this will be the first stage of the campaign that begins at Armageddon.

Here is where it will end because this picture is taken from the place where the Antichrist and his army will be killed. It shows the Garden of Gethsemane right there next to the Church of All Nations. and then the Mount of Olives where Jesus will return. This is Zechariah chapter 14. So this is where the return of Christ will end. That campaign of Armageddon will be ended right here in what you see in this picture.

Then Christ will enter in through the now blocked Eastern Gate. All right, so the tribulation period, which will last for seven years, will be a time of the wrath of God and of the Lamb. Revelation makes it clear, starting with the very first chapter, chapter 6, that addresses that tribulation period. And it will be against those who have turned down grace. At Christ's second coming, He will defend Israel against her enemies and also purge Israel.

The nation of Israel today is largely atheist agnostic. That's the dominant religious expression. We'll see pictures of people up against the Western Wall and that kind of thing, and very observant Jews, but that's the minority. The majority are simply atheist agnostic and couldn't care less about the religious heritage that Israel has.

Now, one of the things that is stated repeatedly in Scripture, Matthew 24, 13 is one of them. He who survives to the end, and this is addressing Jews, to the end of that tribulation period will be saved. And that salvation is not just saved eternally, but saved and go into the Millennial Kingdom. That's what that's referring to. So this is kind of part of the stage there.

Stage five is the national regeneration of Israel. The national regeneration of Israel. In the end, all Israel, Romans 11, 26, all Israel will be saved. But that doesn't mean that there won't be many lost before that. Okay, so Isaiah 4, 2-6, and this is not in your handout. And that day the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem." So Jesus uses this term already kindled. So as the eternal Son of God, imagine Christ's perspective. As the eternal Son of God, He saw all times as present. This is a perspective that we present from time to time. How does God look at time?

He looks at time as all times are in the present. John 8, 58, Jesus said, before Abraham was born, I am. Not I was, but I am. He looks back on that time, and even from that time, he looks at all times as the present. But in this verse and the next, the one we're about to read here, Jesus is making a time-based statement. He has added his humanity to his deity. Christ is fully God and fully man. He's expressing things in these verses from a time-based standpoint because of his humanity that's been added. Jesus was talking about wishing for judgment to come in the next verse, anticipating bearing our sins. So he's going to have another time-based statement.

So Luke 12.50, but I have a baptism to undergo and how distressed I am until it is accomplished. Now this word baptism, we need to understand that a lot of times we think of baptism and we think of what we do typically here behind the screen where we baptize someone in water. In New Testament times and in times before that, The word baptism would have had other significance, and so we give this example.

They would take shells, and there's a particular Murex shell that would have a coloring agent in it, and they would take about 10,000 shells to make about an ounce of dye. So it took lots of shells and that was a lot of labor so that the dye for purple and red colors, the dye would end up costing more per ounce than gold. They would also use a crimson worm. That was another coloring agent that they would use but nonetheless those are fairly small so it took a lot of them to make an ounce of dye.

They would take the cloth and dip it into the dyed water, and it would come out, with the technology of that day, it would come out permanently dyed purple or red. There was no way, with the technology of their day, to get that out. And so, the cloth was immersed completely. Immersed completely, and it came out changed and different. afterwards. They have a similar kind of picture here.

They would heat a sword up once they got it into the shape that they wanted. They would heat a sword up and they'd heat it up to white hot and then they would suddenly plunge that sword into a vat of cold water. Plenty of cold water, and that would case-harden the sword, and instead of having this thing that would be easily nicked up and bent and that sort of thing, now the sword would be very hard on the outside, case-hardened by that immersion. So they would say that you had baptized the sword in the water.

That was the way it was used. And people seeing dying operations with the cloth, people seeing the sword being made and being dipped, you could see that around a lot of the cities. And so this word baptism would bring to mind that kind of thing. not people being dunked in water. And so you'd end up with a sword that was a good final product with a hard edge and a hard surface that didn't bend easy because of that baptism.

So here's this word baptism that Jesus is using. He actually uses it twice there. This is literally a baptism with which I am baptized. That's literally how that comes out, and the translators have brought it, you know, baptism to undergo. But he used the word baptism twice there. So Jesus referring to his payment on the cross for our sins. That will be an immersion for him. An immersion in what? An immersion in agony. The basic meaning of baptism is immersion. Jesus is saying he'll be immersed in agony for us, for you and for me. From eternity past on into eternity future, the father and the son have enjoyed perfect fellowship with one another.

Can you imagine that? From eternity past, that's all Christ had known is perfect untainted fellowship, and now here for a few hours on the cross, that perfect fellowship would turn into the wrath of God against our sins, placed upon Christ. When John the Baptist declared, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, he doesn't make the sins just go away. That word takes away means he lifts it up to put those sins upon himself. To put those sins upon himself. At that time, one Friday afternoon for a few hours, Christ took our sins upon himself and Jesus there bore our sins and experienced the wrath of the Father, the breaking of fellowship. for a few hours.

So here's Luke 12 51 through 53. Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you no, but rather division. From now on, five members in one household will be divided three against two and two against three. And they will be divided father against son, and son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

How do we fit that with something like we just celebrated, you know, here's this passage in Luke. Suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God, before the shepherds, right? Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among men. Is this in conflict with what Jesus is just saying here?

Well, sort of. But if you look at it, peace among men with whom He is pleased, this is going to be fulfilled in the Millennial Kingdom, right? There'll be peace among men because there won't be those with whom He is not well pleased, right? They will be taken out.

Jesus said something similar as He was sending out the disciples two by two. He said to them in Matthew 10, 34 and 36, Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies will be the members of his household.

Yes, scripture makes clear that we have believed, are united in Christ. That's true. We're in Christ and Christ is in us. We've been baptized, we looked at that word, into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit. That, by the way, is what spirit baptism is. We've been baptized into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit. There is this unity that we have. We're even called to say the same thing. and heal up disagreements. So within the body of Christ, there are multiple bases for unity.

But the Bible reveals absolute, singular, knowable truth. That's what we're talking about here this morning. Absolute, singular, knowable truth. The Bible makes absolute, singular, knowable claims about who Christ is and what He alone has done. The Bible records that Christ makes such claims regarding himself. Here's an example, John 14, 6. The New American Standard has it this way.

Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. I've got it expanded and explained on that, taking the context and the Greek text. We come to this conclusion. Expand and explain. Jesus said to Thomas, that's the one who's him, right? I, being deity, am the singular way, the singular truth, and the singular life. No one comes to the Father but through me. That's very specific.

Here's this fellow Thomas who asked this question, and Jesus responds to him. And three days later, Thomas would not believe the ten other disciples that Christ had resurrected. But this is the one that Jesus said this to. Thomas ultimately did understand what Jesus was saying.

And he did believe in the resurrection, by the way. A week later, after Jesus had appeared to the ten, Thomas did see Christ resurrected and did believe. Even to the point that he went all the way to Madras, India, with the gospel. He went to Madras, India, and from there, by the 80s AD, we know that there were Christians in China. Really amazing. So he did respond to this, and he did understand it, eventually.

One of the things that we come to here is Christ is not negotiable. Since Jesus Christ claimed to be deity, every time he said, I am, I am the door, I am the way, I am the good shepherd, he used a pair of Greek words that together are a claim to deity. He did in other ways as well. He is the second person of the Trinity, that's the Son of God. He is the only way, the truth and life. is to be the only way to have access to the Father?

All who don't ever believe, that's John 8, 24, will die in their sins. Those are very absolute statements. And, he said that a refusal of God's gracious salvation, offered exclusively through Christ, will absolutely have eternal and totally irreversible consequences. Christ isn't negotiable. That's going to really divide people. And you may see this even in your own situation. Nancy and I both pray for those in our family who don't claim belief. And each of us have siblings who don't. So we pray for them regularly. Christ is not an avatar, one of a series of emanations from impersonal deity. This is a lot of the Eastern view.

I don't mean avatar as a game term. Christ is not just one of many paths to God. He didn't make that claim and He didn't state it that way. He's His eye alone. Christ is not just a good example for us to follow. I have an uncle who believed that for many, many years, and only recently discovered that, no, the gospel is more than that. But he did discover it, praise the Lord. Christ is not a myth or a legend or a fable or a made-up fantasy story, although you will come across people who will say that. I was having some Amazon review interactions with some various people. Here's a book called The Myths of Nazareth.

The idea that Nazareth was not even a town until decades after It didn't even exist, according to this guy. You shouldn't get too shook up over that. This guy is a piano teacher in Oregon, and he thinks that all these professional archaeologists that have found evidence of Nazareth are just wrong. So, at any rate, yeah, I wouldn't let that disturb you. Now, when I made some comments, then I had some people get on there and said Jesus never existed. Well, anyway, I quoted a couple of atheists to them to contradict both of these things, and that seemed to set them up.

Okay. Now, Christ also isn't, okay, We've said what Christ isn't, now here's what He is. Christ is the eternal Son of God who became a man, who died for our sins, was buried and rose again. He came once and He's coming again. As soon as seven years from now. Here's Luke 12, 54 and 56.

And He was also saying to the crowds, when you see a cloud rising in the West, immediately you say, a shower is coming. And so it turns out. And when you see a south wind blowing, by the way, do you see wind blowing? Okay. You can see the effects of it, right? When you see a south wind blowing, you say it will be a hot day. And it turns out that way.

You hypocrites, how do you, you know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time? winds in Israel coming from the West come off the Mediterranean and of course there's moisture. Then and then they rise as they meet the you know Mountains and the steep valleys and that sort of thing and head up towards Jerusalem in that area So you have the Mediterranean sea level right and you got Jerusalem about 2,500 feet and so it drops You know water as it's rising up that slope sometimes even dropping snow as we discovered and So at any rate, that's a typical pattern and people would become accustomed to, oh, got a west wind, clouds coming up, we're going to get some rain here pretty soon. So this pattern is common enough that everyone would know the clouds coming in from the west would indicate it's going to rain when the clouds move overhead, right? And so people would tell, okay, I can see the signs, I can tell what's coming.

Now, the desert in the southern part of Israel is called the Negev, and it is definitely desert. There are animals there, but they have to move around quite a bit to keep going. Nancy and I kind of experienced that in Nevada, where the cows have to be moving about five miles an hour. They're starved to death. That's the way it is in deserts.

Winds which would come from the south then would tend to be drier and hotter. because it was coming off of this desert area and it didn't have the water and as it moved from the south towards the north then, it would also be predictably hotter as the day went on. So this pattern was also quite common. Common enough that everyone knew that a wind from the south meant that drier was moving in and it's going to be hot.

So now he's talking about this present time, the time that Christ the Messiah presented himself to the people of Israel. Only a very few would see that he was the long-promised Messiah. Most would reject him. Think about it, the Sadducees didn't even believe in a Messiah.

So here's Caiaphas. He's got Jesus in front of him, and Caiaphas, the Sadducee, Ask Jesus, are you the Christ? Are you the Messiah? Well, did Caiaphas even believe that there was a possible yes answer to that? No, because there is no Messiah according to Caiaphas, and so he was asking him just a fake question. It doesn't matter what you answer, it's wrong. The Sadducees didn't even believe in a Messiah, so they're not even looking for one.

The Pharisees thought the Messiah would just love them. Oh, congratulate them on being such good examples, right? And so when Jesus didn't greet them with all sorts of welcome, well, you cannot possibly be the Messiah, because the Messiah is just going to love us.

Many others, just like the free food and free health care and the stirring speeches. This guy talks really good. And so, all this just seemed like a real attractive thing, and it attracted thousands. Even within the last year of Christ's ministry, you'd have thousands show up. At one point, it even talks about 10,000 showing up.

So lots of people showing up, but none of them are believers. None of them are believers. Now, the gospel of the kingdom is the gospel that John the Baptist proclaimed. He proclaimed it as a herald proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. One that was greater, he said, than I is coming right behind me. And he pointed to Christ. Christ came proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom to the people of Israel and the land of Israel.

Right before Christ gave the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 4.23, it says he proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom.

Matthew 9.35, after the Sermon on the Mount, before sending out the twelve two by two, he said he proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom. Jesus proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom by sending out the twelve two by two.

Boy, I sure wouldn't have wanted to get paired up with Judas. By sending them out, he knew that they understood the gospel of the kingdom well enough to proclaim it. The fulfillment of the gospel of the kingdom relates to Christ's second coming and his kingdom. Now, how well was it received?

Here's an example. Jesus proclaims that he is the Messiah in Luke 4, 16 through 21. We, some months ago, covered that. And he, Jesus, came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, and he opened the book and found the place where it was written, quoting Isaiah 61, 1, and the first half of 2, right?

Not all of it. So he read, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me, and what is Christ or the Messiah? That's the anointed one, okay? He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, and he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, which by the way was not a book like we have, which, you know, pulled together on one side, it was the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. He began to say to them, Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. So what's he telling them?

I am Messiah. He stopped in the middle of verse 2 because from there it talks about his second coming. And so he didn't read that. So thousands came. We read that earlier in Luke chapter 12, Luke 12, 1. We read that thousands of the Israelites came to Jesus, but in the end it would be clear that only dozens understood and embraced the gospel of the kingdom, which is not the only gospel, right?

But those Jews who understood and also believed did not understand the gospel of substitution. So he could send them out two by two to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, but they didn't get it about the gospel of substitution, that gospel being that Christ would die in our place, be buried, and rise from the dead. They didn't understand that yet. So that's why we would say thousands came, but only dozens half understood. They understood the gospel of the kingdom, not the gospel of substitution.

Ultimately, Thousands of Jews did ultimately come to believe. 3,000 of them on the day of Pentecost. Those were all Jews. For nearly a decade, most of the church consisted of Jews and some Samaritans. But after the Holy Spirit was sent in Acts 21-20, this is about 58 AD, Dr. Luke wrote, you see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed.

They ultimately did believe. And by the way, the apostles proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom and the gospel of substitution all throughout the book of Acts, all the way up to the last verses. Both gospels. Then those who half understood came to understand completely. And the few became the many. Now, Jesus uses the word hypocrites here. Jesus calls the ones who had not recognized him as the Messiah hypocrites. Why? I mean, that's a pretty strong term. Because while they could connect the dots regarding earthly winds and weather, oh, I see what's happening here, right?

They refused in their hearts to connect the dots about Christ being the Messiah. Willfully rejecting him and resisting the ministry of the Holy Spirit in their hearts imagine this Jesus in the week before he was crucified Jesus goes into Bethany He intentionally waited until Lazarus died and then went to Bethany He raises Lazarus from the dead and And word gets back to these Jewish leaders who have already plotted to kill him. And they say, oh, well, we're going to kill Lazarus too. Instead of thinking, oh my heavens, what are we doing? This is the Messiah, right? He's raising the dead. Instead of seeing, oh, now I get it. The conclusion is, got to kill him too, right? Got to kill him too. Here's Luke 12, 57 through 59.

And why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right? For while you are going with your opponent to appear before the magistrate on your way there, make an effort to settle with him so that he may not drag you before the judge and the judge turn you over to the officer and the officer throw you into prison. I say to you, You will not get out of there until you have paid the very last cent.

What's he talking about here? Certainly there is, as we see in other passages, a preference for settling out of court. And by the way, this is a debtor situation. That is, a person owes a debt to another. So Jesus told the Jews to prefer settling out of court before taking the matter before the judge and being put in a Roman debtor's prison. And by the way, in that Roman debtor's prison, you better have friends and family or you're not going to live. Friends and family are going to be the ones who are going to bring you food and that sort of thing, and they're going to be the ones who are going to get a hold of the resources to buy you out of there. That's the way it worked. It was pretty bad.

Jesus said something nearly identical in the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew 25 and 26. So why did Jesus say this right here? It seems at first glance, well, wait a minute, why did he switch to settling out of court? Well, it actually connects up with the rest of what he had just said.

Because just like people should be able to see where the lawsuit for debts is heading, in other words, if I go there, and I genuinely owe the money, and then the next thing that's going to happen, I'm going to get turned over to the officer, and the officer's going to put me in debtor's prison, I should be able to figure that out, just like the winds coming from the west is going to turn into rain clouds, and the winds coming from the south is going to turn into a hot wind. Right? I should be able to draw a conclusion here. they should also be able to see God's judgment coming and do the right thing.

What's going to happen? You follow this to its conclusion. How's it going to turn out? How's it going to turn out for you guys who are rejecting the Messiah? Is that a good thing? No, it isn't. It's a terrible thing. And you ought to be able to draw that conclusion, too. Now, for us, I'm going to take a look at lessons from the whole chapter.

Don't worry. Jesus has said that earlier. Don't worry, but observe and think and pray ahead. We've already heard Jesus' message not to worry. That was earlier in Luke chapter 12. He actually said it several times. There is a valid place for reading the spiritual signs and thinking ahead. There's a place to do that. Oh, if I do this, then this and this and this will be the consequence, right? This is the outcome that's going to happen if I do this.

We're not to worry, we are to pray. We're not to worry, but we are to look at the spiritual signs and indicators and think about the outcomes while we still have a chance to change the outcome. And that means thinking and praying ahead and not worrying ahead. By the way, when it comes to worry, just procrastinate as much as you can. Don't worry, but do remember the stewardships. As we look to 2016, and it's possible the Lord could take us all home and we won't have to even look to 2016, but as we look at it, let's keep in mind that every day in it is entrusted to us by the Lord as a stewardship. It's been said, you know, if you've got a pulse, you've got a purpose. You know, the Lord's got something in mind if you're still here. Every day, every relationship, every person got his place in our lives.

While churches will often use the word stewardship related to money and physical assets, that's actually only just one small slice of the things he's entrusted to us. They start with our relationship with Him, and then with others. Whoever the Lord's put you in relationship with, that's stewardship. And there's some stewardships that the Bible particularly addresses. And stewardships relating to marriage, stewardships relating to raising of kids, stewardships even relating to one another here in the body of Christ.

All those are stewardships that need to be carefully considered, prayerfully considered. Don't worry, but do remember your spiritual resources. It's very important to understand our spiritual resources. We can ask the Lord for wisdom and every other provision. We can thank Him and we can praise Him. These are spiritual resources that the Lord wants us to take advantage of.

As we mentioned several weeks ago, God always has time for you. You have God's undivided attention. Isn't that something? God's not so busy saying, look, I got another Christian here I need to talk to and listen to for a minute, so hurry up. He doesn't have to rush off and do that. He always has time for you. You have God's undivided attention. So prayer is a spiritual resource. And then when God answers prayer. Here's the story of a man and his wife are up on a housetop trying to escape the rising floodwaters. And the man's sitting there trying to comfort his wife and he prays, Lord, rescue us.

And so along comes a raft. And the guy in the raft says, hey, there's plenty of room. You want to get in? No, the Lord's going to rescue us. Okay. So the raft goes off. waters rise, they get higher on the roof. Next comes by a boat. This boat's got capacity. The guy in the boat says, hey, want to get in the boat? Ah, no, the Lord's going to rescue us. We're good. And so the guy in the boat takes off.

Then, finally, a helicopter flies over, and they're getting towards the top of the roof. The helicopter has this big loudspeaker, and they say, hey, grab hold of this, and we'll pull you up on the helicopter and rescue you. And the guy says, nah, thanks, the Lord's going to rescue me. Well, the floodwaters rise even more, and finally, the guy and his wife are swept away in the flood and die. And they go home to be with the Lord, and they say, boy, sure good to be here in heaven, Why didn't you rescue us, Lord? The Lord says, I sent you a raft and a boat and a helicopter and you turned all three of them away.

We need to look for how God's answering prayer. Sometimes we will pray in such a way we won't see God's answer. The Holy Spirit will teach us and lead us, but not in the spiritual vacuum. We sometimes will have people who will just kind of sit there and say, well, the Holy Spirit's going to lead me, but they won't connect up with these spiritual resources. Nancy asked a fellow one time, a single man, do you want to get married? Oh yeah, I'd like to get married. She said, do you ever pray about it? No, no, I never do that. No. Well, so it can't be done in a vacuum. The other is God's Word, which, of course, we're spending time taking a look at. God's Word will tell us about many things, and it will ultimately direct our focus to Christ. And finally, other believers. God will use other believers in our lives, including older believers.

And I could point to passages in, for example, Paul writing to Timothy and to Titus, where he underscores that point, the ministry and the character of older men and women. But 1 Peter 5, 1 through 3 is one that I've extracted a key message from here. Therefore, exhort the elders among you, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, proving to be examples to the flock. So this is one ministry, and that's why they're called elders, right?

But we have these spiritual resources. As we look ahead to 2016, all these are made available to us. by the work of the Lord Himself. And this is a wonderful thing and something that I encourage you to look to. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the truths of this passage. We thank you that as we look to the end of this year and towards another, that you have provided all these things because you love us, you care for us, and you do indeed want to have ongoing relationship with you, beholding the Lord Jesus Christ until we see him face to face. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.